Carpenter waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday on another charge of home improvement fraud, filed by Whitehall police in May. According to court records, Carpenter was paid $1,900 by Rose Balliet to install a concrete patio and walkway last June. Balliet told police Carpenter did some excavating but never returned to finish the job, leaving her to pay another contractor to complete it.

Those circumstances are similar to those in the previous criminal case against him, filed last year by Allentown police. He was accused of taking $152,000 from two customers and completing only about $54,000 of work.

That case was resolved earlier this year when Carpenter pleaded guilty to two felony counts of home improvment fraud and was sentenced to 30 days to 23 months in jail. He was eligible for work release almost immediately and was paroled after 30 days, court records show.

Like the victims in his previous case, Balliet is elderly. Hopefully, she'll get her money back when Carpenter's case goes to trial in Lehigh County court, as the other victims did when Carpenter repaid them to lessen his sentence.